Planter.



PATENTED JULY 21, 1908.

S. H. TINSMAN.

PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20. 19

7 v w. l .2 rum m H I y m w l No. 898,888. PATENTED JULY 21,1908.

, s. H. TINSMAN.

.PLANTER.

ICATION FILED SEPT 20,1906

No. 898,886. PATENTED JULY 21, 1908 S. H. TINSMAN.

PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20.190G.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3 ,886. PATENTEDJULY 21, 1908.

s. H. TINSMANV PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20. 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

' axle of UNITED STATES SAMUEL H. TINSMAN, OF FORT MADISON, IOWA.

IPLANTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed September 20, 1906. Serial No. 335,370.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. TINSMAN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Fort Madison, Lee county, Iowa, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Planters, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to seed-planting machines of the type known aslisters that is to say, planting machines in which a double mold boardfurrow-opener is combined with seed-dropping mechanism operated by thesupporting wheels of the planter, and in which the corn or other seed isdropped in the furrow made by said furrow-opener as the planter is drawnover the field.

Generally stated, the object of my invention is the provision of animproved and highly efficient seed-planting machine of the so-calledlister type.

Special objects are to provide an improved general construction; toprovide improved means for operating the seed-dropping mechanism; toprovide improved means for con trolling the seed-dropping mechanism whenthe planter is raised and lowered; to provide an improved arrangement inwhich the the forward wheels can be rocked to raise and lower the furrowopener in the frame; and to provide certain details and features ofimprovement and combinations tending to increase the general efliciencyof a seed-planting machine of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, my invention consists in mattershereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a listerembodying the principles of my invention, the near wheel eing removedfor convenience of illustration,- Fig. 2 is a plan of the lister shownin Fig. 1,- Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of said lister; Figs. 4 and5'are details of the means for operating and controlling the seed-dropping mechanism within the hopper; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1,but showing the furrow-opener lowered to the ground; Fig. 7 is adetailed section on line 7-7 in Fig. 6. As thus illustrated, my improvedlister comprises a double mold board furrowopener A, which is mountedupon a forward extending beam a. This beam is supported at its forwardend by the upper portion of a bail-shaped axle B, and at its rear end bya swinging bail O. The said axle is supported in the hubs of wheels D.The said bail is supported in brackets c, which are secured to the bodyframe E. It will be seen that this body frame is U-shaped in form,having its rear end su ported by the double caster wheel F, whic latteris free to swing or caster from side to side. The said axle B issupported in bearings b secured to the forwardend portions of the saidU-shaped frame. A spring G connects the rear crosspiece of said bodyframe with the said beam a of the furrow-opener, thus assisting inraising the latter from the ground. With the arrangement shown provisionis made for attaching draft devices to the forward end of the said beama. A clip H is fastened to the said beam and carries an ordinary sodcutter or colter I, which latter runs ahead of the double mold boardfurrow opener. The rotary covering disks J are secured to the rear endsof the two mold boards of the furrowopener, and arranged in position toassist in throwing the dirt over the seed dropped from the deliveryspout K. It will be seen that this spout extends downwardly to the pointjust in the rear of the heel of the said rrow-opener. The double casterwheel F comprises two wheels which tend to push the dirt toward eachother, thus assisting in covering the seed dropped by the planter.

A drivers seat L is suitably mounted and supported upon the rear portionof the U- shaped body frame. At its forward portion, the two ends of theU-shaped frame are connected through the medium of two uprights M and abearing or casting m, as shown more fully in Fig. 5. This, in effect,provides an arch at the forward end of the body frame, and upon thisarch is mounted the hopper N which contains the seed-dropping mechanismof any suitable known or approved type. The said seed-dropping mechanismis operated by a horizontal shaft m supported in said bearing m andprovided with a bevel gear m which engages the rotary plate m on thebottom of the said hopper. A sprocket wheel m is secured to the otherend of said shaft and a spring m is supported between the said sprocketwheel and a bracket arm m which extends around from the casting m. Acollar m is keyed or otherwise secured to said shaft, and a slotted linkor arm 0 is inter posed between the said collar and the said portion m.It will be observed that the slot 0 in said link or arm permits thelatter to move up and down upon the said shaft. It will also be seenthat the cam portion 0 on the said link or arm will engage the collar ofand cause the bevel gear m to disengage from the rotary plate m when thesaid link or arm 0 is moved upwardly. At its lower end the said link orarm is pivotally con nected with one arm or vertically swinging portionof the bail-shaped axle, as, for example, by 'means of a clamp orbracket 0 secured to said axle (see Fig. 6). A sprocket wheel P issecured to a sleeve on said axle, which sleeve engages or connects withthe adjacent supporting wheel D, whereby the said sprocket wheel rotateswhen the planter is traveling along. A s rocket chain Q connects thesprocket whee P with the sprocket wheel m, as shown more clearly in Fig.6, and with this arrangement the rotation of the wheel D is accompaniedby the rotation of the shaft m If the bevel gear m is in engagement withthe seed-dropping mechanism, the latter is then operated. hand, if thefurrow-opener is raised from the ground, and the axle B thus swung intothe position shown in Fig. 1, it is obvious that the seeddroppingmechanism is thereby rendered inoperative, by reason of the endwiseshifting of the shaft m. When the furrow-opener is down, as shown inFig. 6, the cam portion 0 then disengages from the collar m permittingthe shaft m to shift endwise under the pressure of the spring m causingthe bevel gear m to rengage the mechanism of the seed-dropping devicesat the bottom of the hopper. When this is done, the seed-droppingmechanism is operated, and the seed discharged from the hopper isconducted through a pipe or hollow connection It to the spout and thendropped in the furrow made by the furrowopener A. The seed is thencovered up, or partially so, in a manner previously described, andaccording to the adjustment of the disks J and the wheels F.

A hand lever S is secured to one spindle or end portion of the axle, andis provided with locking means ada ted to engage the tooth locking rackT, w ich latter, of course, is rigidly secured to the frame E. With thisarrangement the driver can rock the shaft and thereby raise and lowerthe furrowopener, and at the same time automatically control theconnections between the Wheel and the dropping mechanism. It will beseen that the spindles of the axle, and the axis about which the wheelsrotate, are lo cated substantially above the point or toe of thefurrow-opener, thus facilitating the turning around of the planter.

It will be seen that the covering disks J are provided with pivotedbearings On the other by these disks can be adjusted about verticalaxes, so as to vary the angle of each disk according to requirements.

What I claim as my invention is ping mechanism, an endwise movable shaftprovided with means for engaging said mechanism, means for automaticallyshifting said shaft endwise when the furrow opener is raised andlowered, a wheeled frame supporting said mechanism and furrow opener,and means for raising and lowering said furrow opener without raising orlowering said shaft and mechanism.

2. In a planter, a furrow opener seed-dropping mechanism, an endwisemovable shaft provided with means for operatively engaging saidmechanism, a sprocket wheel on said shaft, a spring tending to keep theshaft in position to operate the said seed-dropping mechanism, avertically disposed and endwise movable slotted arm through which theshaft extends, a cam on said arm, means on said shaft for engaging saidcam, means for automatically moving the said arm up and down when thefurrow opener i raised and lowered, a wheeled frame supporting the saidmechanism, bails supporting the furrow opener on said frame, and meansfor raising and lowering said furrow opener without raising and loweringsaid mechanism and shaft.

3. In a planter, a U-shaped frame, a bailshaped axle journaled inbearings on the forward end portions of said frame, a swinging bailjournaled in bearings on the rear portion of said frame, a double moldboard furrow-opener provided with a beam, bearings on said beam forengaging said bail and axle, an arch across the forward portion of saidframe, seed-dropping mechanism mounted on said arch, wheels on saidaxle, means for rocking said axle to raise and lower the furrow-openerin the frame, and means operated by the said axle for automaticallyconnecting and disconnecting the said seeddropping mechanism when thefurrow-opener is lowered and raised.

4. In a planter, the combination of a double mold board furrow-opener, abody frame, a bail-shaped axle supported in bearings on said frame, aswinging bail supported in bearings on said frame, means for connectingthe furrow-opener with the said bail and axle, a support at the forwardend of said frame, seed-dropping mechanism mounted upon said support, adrivers seat supported on the frame in rear of said seed-droppingmechanism, a seed-delivering spout in rear of said furrow-opener, a pipeconnecting the seed-dropping mechanism with said seeddelivering spout, arear caster wheel supporting the rear end of the frame, and means forrocking said axle to raise and lower the wherel furrow-opener.

1. In a planter, a furrow opener seeddrop-' 5. In a planter, thecombination of a body,

frame, a double mold board furrow-opener, a rear caster wheel supportingthe said frame, supporting wheels for carrying the forward end of theframe, means for raising and lowering the said furrowopener in theframe, a hopper and seed-dropping mechanism supported on the forward endof the frame, and a seat supported on the frame in the rear of saidhopper and seed-dropping mechanism.

6. ,A lister comprising a frame, a furrow opener, a bail-shaped axle, abail, bearings for connecting the outer portions of said axle and bailwith the frame, bearings for connecting the swinging or middle portionsof the axle and bail with the furrow opener, a rear wheel for supportingthe frame, a seed dropping mechanism and a seat mounted on the saidlister, meansjfor rocking the axle in its bearings on the frame to raiseand lower the furrow opener, and means for driving the seed mechanismfrom one of said wheels.

7. A lister comprising a frame, a bailaxle mounted in bearings on theforward portion of the frame, the bail or middle portion of said axleextending forward, wheels on said axle, a bail carried by the rearportion of said frame, said bail extending forward, a furrow openermounted on the forward portions of said bail and bail-shaped axle, arear caster wheel supporting the frame, seedmechanism carried by theframe, means for driving said mechanism from one of said wheels, a seaton the frame in rear of said seed mechanism, and means for rocking saidaxle inits bearings on the frame to raise and lower the furrow opener inthe frame.

8. The combination of a furrow opener, a frame, a bail-shaped axlemounted in bearings on the forward portion of the frame, the middleportion of said axle extending forward to support the furrow opener,Wheels on said axle, seed mechanism on the frame, means for driving theseed mechanism from one of said wheels, and means for rocking the axlein its bearings on the frame to raise and lower the furrow opener in theframe.

9. The combination of a frame, seed mechanism on the frame, afurrow-opener hung in the frame below the seed mechanism, a seed spoutcarried by and in rear of the furrow opener, a seed-deliveringconnection between the said mechanism and spout, wheels supporting theframe, a connection from a front wheel to the seed mechanism for drivingthe latter, and means dependent on the position of the front axle forraising and lowering the furrow opener in the frame.

10. Alister comprising a seed mechanism,

a furrow opener, a transversely disposed movable shaft for operatingsaid mechanism, an upwardly movable member engaging said shaft, a framesupporting the shaft and furrow opener, and means for lifting the furrowopener in the frame to raise said member and thereby shift the shaftendwise to disconnect the seed mechanism.

11. A lister comprising a frame, a furrow opener having'a beam hung insaid frame, an arch on the frame, a seed mechanism on said arch, wheelssupporting said frame, means for driving said mechanism from one of saidwheels, a rear caster wheel, and a seat on the rear end of the frame,said arch straddling the beam of said furrow opener.

12. Alister comprising a seed mechanism, a movable shaft for operatingsaid mechanism, a vertically disposed bar'provided with a slot in whichsaid shaft extends, a cam on said bar, means on said shaft for engagingsaid cam, and means for raising said bar to shift the shaft endwise andthereby disconnect the seed mechanism.

13. A lister comprising a frame, an axle journaled in bearings on saidframe, a furrow opener hung on said axle, front wheels on said axle, arear caster wheel, a seed mechanism operated from one of said wheels,and means for rocking said axle in the front wheels to raise and lowerthe furrow opener.

14.. A three wheeled lister comprising a frame and a furrow opener hungtherein and a seed mechanism mounted thereon and driven from one of theforward wheels and means operable from a seat carried by the frame inrear of the seed mechanism for raising and lowering the said furrow'opener.

15. A lister of the frame type having two forward wheels and a rearcaster wheel and provided with an axle adapted to be rocked in theforward wheels for raising and lowering the furrow opener withoutraising and lowering the seed mechanism supported on the forward portionof the frame and driven from one of the forward wheels.

16. Alister comprising a frame, a rear caster wheel for said frame, aseat on the rear portion of said frame, a bail mounted in bearings onthe rear portion of said frame and extending forward therefrom, abail-shaped axle mounted in bearings on the forward portion of saidframe and extending forward therefrom, a furrow opener having a beamhung on said bail and axle, front wheels on said axle, a seed mechanismmounted on the frame and driven from one of said forward Wheels, meansfor rocking the axle in the for ward wheels to raise and lower thefurrow opener, and means for locking the furrow opener in differentpositions.

Signed by me at Fort Madison, Lee county, Iowa, this 30th day of August,1906.

SAMUEL H. TINSMAN.

Witnesses:

V. E. MORRISON, J. T. FRANCIS.

